State to screen hiring of doctors at mental hospitals

AUSTIN - The Texas health department assumed final say this week over the hiring of doctors at its 10 facilities, following a newspaper report that showed state mental health hospitals had hired psychiatrists with documented histories of sexual misconduct.

Under a policy that started this week, an administrator for the Department of State Health Services must review and approve psychiatrists before they are hired, the Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday.

Hospital staffs will still interview and select candidates, but final approval will no longer be up to hospital superintendents.

"It boils down to adding more checks and balances to protect patients," said health services spokeswoman Carrie Williams. "We want to hire the best person for the job, only good people with good records, nothing less. If a potential hire looks risky, we'll keep looking."

According to a Jan. 18 memo from Mike Maples, the assistant commissioner for mental health and substance abuse services, hospital superintendents have been directed to review the files of all currently employed psychiatrists for "abnormalities, inconsistencies with job applications, actions by Texas or other state medical boards, or confirmations of abuse, neglect or exploitation."

Maples wrote that any irregularities must be reported to the section director by Feb. 1.

The policy change followed a report by the newspaper last month that showed the state knowingly hired three hospital psychiatrists with documented histories of sexual misconduct.

Two of them still work at Rusk State Hospital. The third was fired this month after officials discovered he had been terminated from a community mental health center in 1998 and later signed a legal settlement banning him from working at state-funded mental health facilities.

Beth Mitchell of Disability Rights Texas, which advocates for people with disabilities, called the policy change "helpful."

"It will bring to light individuals they might not have known of," she said.

The Department of State Health Services said that since last month, several policy changes have been implemented to help protect patients, including one in which staffers accused of abuse are moved to other units.